


Herd

by Sheneya



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, Short One Shot, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-13 15:47:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29031147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sheneya/pseuds/Sheneya
Summary: Grog Doesn't do Baths
Relationships: Grog Strongjaw & Pike Trickfoot, Grog Strongjaw & Vox Machina
Comments: 1
Kudos: 23





	Herd

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on my tumblr.

Grog doesn't do baths. So when he does it the first time, all of Vox Machina looks towards Pike, to see if she can make heads or tails of it. She just smiles at them as Grog carries his bed-sheets to the nearest furnace in the Whitestone Castle.

And it is an odd sight for the others, not so much for Pike, who feels a little pang of sadness as she's seen it before.

For someone who doesn't bath, Grog is being extremely conscientious about it. Washing himself, sniffing, draining the water, only to refill it and restart the process all over again, until finally he gives an oddly satisfied nod.

Keyleth is the first to understand as she watches Grog pick up the much smaller Pike and gently rub his face against her bare stomach. Her understanding of how pack or herd groups work stemming from her Druidic nature helping her.

There is nothing sexual in Grog's behavior, and nothing sexual in the way Pike does the same, gently rubbing her face against his stomach as he places her back on the ground.

Keyleth doesn't hesitate to reach her hands up as Grog looks towards the rest of them, questioningly...longingly.

His beard is softer than she expected against her stomach, and his belly pressed against her face is warmer than his paler skin makes it look.

Perhaps because nature is often an elven thing, or perhaps for as smart as Percy is, he tended to overthink, but the twins were the ones who understood next. Understood as twins, and moved as twins.

One on each side, slightly uncomfortable, yet oddly comforted at the same time.

Vax coming in like a gentle tackle, while Vex sort of slide into place on the other side. They were the first to speak, a strangely harmonic jumble of whispered friendly insults and gentle, yet slightly condescending praise.

Scanlan came next, Keyleth who was now talking with Percy to help him stop his overthinking, had seen Pike chatting with the other Gnome for a few minutes now moving over to be picked up by the strangely timid Goliath.

"...Goliath's run in herds..."

Keyleth nodded her head at Percy as she watched Scanlan receive the same treatment as Pike had in the beginning.

"...Grog has mentioned a few times that he likes to scent things..."

"...Yes Percy, he has..."

She watched as Grog came over to where Percy was standing next to her.

"...Are we...We're Grog's herd now... He wants us to smell like him..."

"If you don't mind?"

Keyleth may have been Percy's friend, it didn't mean she couldn't be amused by how high he jumped at Grog's sudden appearance and interjection.

"...I... Strangely I actually don't."

Percy might not have minded, but it didn't stop him from making an undignified sound when Grog picked him up and pushed his giant head up under the loose shirt he was wearing to rub his face against his belly. Nor did it stop him from making a slightly sarcastic comment about Grog's stomach as he followed Pike and the other members of Vox Machina's lead and did the same to Grog.

We are Grog's herd now.


End file.
